random: “DON’T FRONT, YOU KNOW I GOTCHA OPEN” – A LOVE STORY ABOUT FRONTS

my obsession with FRONTS (or GRILLS) stems from a childhood of watching magical characters from the late 80’s to early 90’s.

be it the drug dealers on my block, the old west indian men my pops hung out with or even MADONNA on MTV with the single capped tooth. my inkling for golden enamel started as a spark and became a huge flame in no time.

in my younger and broker days i dabbled in caps, but those never lasted. by 2003, i could afford my own FRONTS. OSCAR, PETE and i took the train to THE COLISEUM in QUEENS to be fitted by an eastern-european jeweler. we stood in the middle of a mall as he stuck putty in a tray, which he eventually roughly placed into our mouths. at that moment neither one of us was concerned about the cleanliness of his tools, more ecstatic on how we would look with the finished product.

i wanted them to be simple and symmetrical, while OSCAR went for a set that would be off set. since our first time together, i’ve managed to collect a couple other sets that are on the more elaborate side.